More than a dozen Hinsdale Central alumni returned to the high school Friday to reconnect with members of the band and play with them, if they chose.

Band director Matt Kurinsky and associate band director Matt Goeke invited all Red Devil Band alumni on Facebook to attend the boys basketball game against York High School in Central's gym.

They could stop by to say hello or arrive earlier to rehearse, if they wanted to play with the pep band during the game. The school had extra instruments to loan alumni who did not have their own.

"We choose the basketball game closest to winter break so that college students who are back in town can participate," Kurinsky said.

The directors have invited former band members to reunite at a designated game for about 10 years.

"It seemed like we should do something because we were talking to graduates at games while the student band played," Kurinsky said. "They missed playing together."

Some are pursuing music as a career. Others left their instruments behind as they moved on to college.

Kivi Davidson, who graduated in 2014, is studying music therapy at Ohio University.

"It's using music to achieve non-music goals, like social goals or communication," explained Davidson, who played in the jazz ensemble and the wind ensemble during her four years at Central.

She brought her clarinet to join the pep band and visit with her old teachers.

Matt Kilens, class of 2012, planned to borrow a clarinet. He played bass clarinet and contra bass clarinet when he was at Central, and continued with the Norseman Band at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where he earned a degree in computer science.

Kurinsky had a clarinet for Kilens, but no reed, so Kilens turned to the trombone as a substitute.

"I played the trombone a little bit in college," Kilens said.

But he had second thoughts as he tuned up the trombone. He called and had someone bring him his old clarinet from fifth grade, that was at his Clarendon Hills' home.

Kurinsky found a drum set for Tony Taylor, who graduated in 2015. Taylor played drums in the jazz band and snare in the marching band at Central, and now is producing music in the Chicago area.

"I missed all my friends and teachers," Taylor said.

Former trumpet player Alex Djordjevic expressed similar feelings. However, Djordjevic, who is studying chemical engineering at the University of Conneticutt, was not ready to pick up his instrument, because he had hurt his wrist.

"I haven't touched (the trumpet) since the Memorial Day Parade in 2016, the year I graduated," he said.

Others were very recent graduates, such as Jeremy Miller and Katherine Morrone, who both graduated last year.

Miller said he returned for the camaraderie.

"Band was really my home here," said Morrone.

Robert Parks, an Oak Brook resident from the class of 2013, spent the day talking to students in band classes.

He has a job with Evinrude, which makes outboard boat motors, after graduating in December from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a dual mechanical engineering and mathematics degree.

Parks said he tried out for Wisconsin's marching band on a whim.

The band is very competitive, he said. About 60 percent of the students who audition are not chosen, Parks said. But Parks was accepted and played trumpet all five seasons he was at Wisconsin.

"It was one of the best decisions I made in my college career," Parks said. "The band served as a fraternity and a social group and was a great part of my entire experience."

That was the message he had for Central students. There are opportunities for them to continue to play at college, even if they are not music majors. Parks told the students they could join a small concert band or a jazz group at college, which would not have as demanding a schedule as the marching band.

"They do not have to give up the skills they have developed up to senior year," Parks said.